The government in Ashgabat tightens its grip on young people who refuse to do military service. Religious minorities are the most exposed to government persecution.

Ashgabat (AsiaNews/Forum18) - The
26 year old Atamurat Suvkhanov is the ninth Jehovah's Witness to be punished
with imprisonment for his refusal to do military service. Since
the beginning of 2012 episodes of this kind at the expense of the religious
community have intensified, with 9 members jailed and 4 others pending trial.

The Turkmen Constitution defines military
service as a "sacred duty", with no alternative voluntary service program
for those who, for political or religious reasons, refuse to take part. Notwithstanding
the fact that Article 18 of the religious law guarantees the right to
conscientious objection, every Turkmen between eighteen and twenty-seven years
must serve in the army for at least two years, under penalty of imprisonment
for up to eighteen months.

Suvkhanov had already been in
prison for the same offense from December 2004 to April 2005, with a sentence
of nine months later reduced to 6. In
December 2012, a few months before reaching twenty-seven years which would have
exonerated him from service, the young man was again sentenced to one year in
prison.

In the weeks prior to the second
sentence, Suvkhanov was admitted to hospital in Doshoguz for liver and heart problems.
The
young man then sent his medical records to both the office of Defense and the regional
military Office, hoping that the poor health would justify his
non-participation. Neither
institution, however, agreed to his being unfit for service, refusing even to
give reasons to the Norwegian Human Rights organization Forum 18.

Sources
in the Turkmen Jehovah's Witnesses community claim that "from behavior
towards Atamurat the, it is obvious that they're putting a lot of pressure on him
in prison." The
group members read the government's attitudes as a direct reaction to the
appeals for United Nations intervention. Since
the beginning of 2012, in fact, when the arrests of young conscientious
objectors have intensified, some members of the religious community have turned
to the Committee for Human Rights. The
complaint was directed against the mistreatment of detainees in prison and Seydi
labor camp, in addition to the rigid control exercised by the police on the
families of detainees.